WPTV AND WFLX announce anchor teams

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - WPTV NewsChannel 5 and WFLX Fox 29, which are forming a news partnership for the West Palm Beach market effective January 1, 2011, have jointly announced the anchor teams that will be featured on Fox29 News.

These newscasts will be produced for WFLX by WPTV, Florida’s highest-rated TV station, and will feature some of WPTV’s top news and weather personalities.

Beginning Monday, January 3, Shannon Cake and Jay Cashmere will co-anchor Fox 29 News at 10:00 p-m weeknights, the area’s only prime time newscast. Cake and Cashmere will continue to co-anchor NewsChannel 5 at 5:00pm on WPTV, the top-rated 5:00 newscast in the Palm Beaches and the Treasure Coast.

In addition to their anchoring duties, Cake and Cashmere are highly respected for their outstanding reporting efforts. Most recently, Cashmere was the first local TV reporter from West Palm Beach to cover the Gulf of Mexico oil spill from the scene, and Cake has won numerous awards for her hard-hitting Contact 5 investigative reports.

Joining Cake and Cashmere at 10:00 p-m will be the area’s leading weather expert, Steve Weagle . WPTV’s chief meteorologist for more than 12 years, Weagle has distinguished himself by his accurate forecasting of all the major hurricanes that have hit or threatened South Florida over the past few years.

Weagle is designated a Certified Broadcast Meteorologist (CBM) by the American Meteorological Society (AMS).

“With Shannon, Jay and Steve leading the way on Fox 29 at 10:00 p-m, our viewers are assured of the partnership’s commitment to a first class late evening news broadcast,” said John Spinola, WFLX’s Vice President and General Manager. “And with the further expansion of the area’s largest news staff, they will be presenting a newscast that is tailored to our Fox viewers featuring both exclusive and expanded content not seen on WPTV.

South Florida’s long running #1 morning team of Roxanne Stein and John Favole will extend their presence in the morning by co-anchoring Fox 29 News at 7:00 and 8:00 a-m, the area’s only local newscasts broadcast during that time period.

With Stein and Favole at the helm of WPTV’s TODAY ON 5 from 4:30-7:00 a-m, NewsChannel 5 is the overwhelming leader in early morning news.

“By extending their engaging personalities and journalistic credibility to the Fox 29 morning line-up, Roxanne and John will offer Fox 29 viewers their own unique approach to local news every weekday and an alternative to the national morning broadcasts,” said Steve Wasserman, WPTV’s Vice President and General Manager.

Other key members of the WPTV Today on 5 team will be joining Stein and Favole on Fox 29 News at 7:00 and 8:00 a-m. Lauren LaPonzina will handle breaking news, interviews and traffic, and meteorologist Glenn Glazer will keep WFLX viewers up to date on the day’s weather.

Long-time WPTV anchor and reporter Tania Rogers will round out the Fox 29 anchor team by co-anchoring the weekend edition of Fox 29 News at 10:00pm. She will share the anchor desk with a co-anchor to be named at a later date.

In addition to her many years as a WPTV news anchor, Rogers also is a highly regarded reporter who currently has a regular feature on NewsChannel 5 called “Making a Difference in South Florida,” which tells the stories of ordinary citizens doing extraordinary things in their communities.

Meteorologist James Wieland will handle the weather segments of Fox 29 News on the weekends.

Both Rogers and Wieland, along with the soon-to-be-named co-anchor, will also be the anchors of WPTV’s NewsChannel 5 at 6:00 and 11:00pm weekends.

WPTV, the NBC affiliate serving the Palm Beaches and the Treasure Coast and WFLX, the area’s Fox affiliate, recently announced a long-term partnership in which WPTV will be the exclusive provider of local news to WFLX.

As part of this arrangement, WPTV has agreed to significantly increase its staffing and technology to support the production of an additional 17 hours of local news per week for WFLX.

WPTV is owned and operated by The E.W. Scripps Company. WFLX is part of the Raycom Media group of stations.